Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2017 budget includes a new, $112,000-a-year assistant to the mayor and pay raises up to 30 percent for current members of Emanuel’s staff, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2017 budget includes a new, $112,000-a-year assistant to the mayor and pay raises up to 30 percent for current members of Emanuel’s staff, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The overall budget for the mayor’s office will rise by 5 percent to $6.28 million in 2017, despite only one addition to the staff of 68 employees. However, 45 members of Emanuel’s staff are in line for pay raises and there are some small salary reductions.

According to the report, Emanuel’s budget continues to freeze the pay of city department heads, with the exception of Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans, the city’s highest-paid public official. Evans has an annual salary of $300,000, compared to the $186,576 her predecessor Rosemarie Anodolino made.

The substantial pay increase was used to lure Evans to Chicago from Washington, D.C. in May of 2015. She previously served as vice president of engineering for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

"First, the overall headcount in the office has not changed," Emanuel's communications director Adam Collins said in a statement. "There were some new hires and we made some structural changes in the office months ago to focus on neighborhoods and economic development."